Youth Mini-Mission Events

Recently our young people gathered with friends and hiked on the AT (Appalachian Trail), enjoying a glorious day, entering into the beauty of God’s creation, exploring and playing in the nearby stream, climbing on a natural jungle-gym, and reflecting upon how God speaks to us through nature. It was a time of joy and embrace of the goodness we find in one another and in nature. We picked up trash as we went along, always trying to leave the place…

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church The Rev. Barbara Hutchinson Christ the King Sunday November 26, 2017 Take, eat, this is my body, given for you. In these simple yet remarkable words, Jesus gives us everything. In our outstretched hands, we receive whatever it is we are lacking in our heart, mind, body, or soul, be it hope, healing, joy, comfort, inspiration, challenge, insight, creativity, strength, or a taste of what is yet to come in our lives. It is a moment…

Our focus this year is on how to be in right relationship with God by being in right relationship with our earth, God’s creation and primary revelation. Our young people are leading us in this effort, of course! Yesterday, we held a Youth Mini-Mission Event which helped us understand how crops and livestock can be grown in a way that works with the earth. We visited Oyler’s Organic Farm, where they harvest apples, raise cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys, and…

A number of us gathered this past Saturday, as the warm air surrounded us and the bright sun shone down upon our shoulders, warming us to the chilliness of Middle Spring Creek, which we found ourselves wading in as we participating in a stream clean-up as one of our Youth Mini-Mission Events. We began by learning about what a watershed is and why it matters. The map shown to us by our excellent guide visually showed our connections with each…

Today, in the glory of the sunshine and the beauty of God’s creation, 23 of us gathered together to spend the day enjoying each other’s company, learning something about God, and taking time to relax, breathe, put away our cell phones, and connect to something deeper within each one of us, and among us — a sense of family. We were expertly led by three guides: Joe, Jeremy, Kristin who not only instructed us on how to canoe, but also…

I never want to take for granted the good-will of our young people. Many are teenagers and it wouldn’t surprise me, nor appall me, if once in awhile, I saw a discrediting look, or a rolling-of-the eyes, or a resistance to roll up their sleeves and do some hard physical work. Yet what I see instead takes my breath away. Rather I see willingness to do whatever is asked, or I see their capacity to stretch to meet the new…

On the Monday after Easter, our young people and adults went to Catholic Charities in Harrisburg to meet and work with refugees who were in an ESL (English as a 2nd Language) Class. It was a wonderful way to take the gift of the joy of Easter (the risen Christ) out into the world, to help make a difference to those in need. Jesus instructed us to “welcome the stranger” and that’s exactly what we did. We shared our goodie…

Our youth began Holy Week by serving others. As adults who plan these events, our focus is on our young people experiencing what it means to follow Christ. We don’t use that language necessarily, and although we debrief afterwards and are willing and ready to talk about what the church does and thinks about the work we’ve just done, the emphasis has always been on developing the hearts of our young people to care about others. If we can do…

During these winter and spring months, our young people will be learning about and helping people who are displaced. These people will include refugees (people who come legally into our country to escape persecution), people who find refuge in domestic violence shelters (Women in Need), people who live at a Ronald McDonald House while their children are being treated at a nearby hospital, people who are homeless, people who are in military service, children of migrant workers who move with…

Yesterday was a spiritually “full” day, by that I mean, it was a day when the presence of God seemed to saturate us at St. Andrew’s. At expected and unexpected moments, I kept bumping into the awareness of the presence of something bigger than any of us, something more pervasive than effort any of us could sustain, and something richer than any of us could image. After a remarkable morning of glorious worship, when Deacon Wanda, Mother Carenda and I…

This past Sunday 17 young people and 10 adults gleaned 900 pounds of apples! It was remarkable! The day was beautiful and the energy high as we headed out in the rows of apples to pick any remaining fruit from the tree or to choose good apples from the ground. it was an amazing experience to have so many of us show up to gather food, which was then transported to SPO (Shippensburg Produce Outreach) and was distributed today to…